


Street Rat

by Daniscats



Series: The Incredible Story of Captain Shepard and the Love that Saved the Galaxy! Drabbles and Misc [12]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Young Shepard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-12-22 01:03:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11956446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daniscats/pseuds/Daniscats
Summary: This is another story that I wrote for the month of fan fic challenge. The prompt was 'Under 18, in their youth'. I'm considering a larger story about this once I finish my main story so let me know what you think.Warning: Shepard's language in this one is a little mature, especially for her age.





	Street Rat

**Author's Note:**

> This is another story that I wrote for the month of fan fic challenge. The prompt was 'Under 18, in their youth'. I'm considering a larger story about this once I finish my main story so let me know what you think.
> 
> Warning: Shepard's language in this one is a little mature, especially for her age.

    Shepard looked over her shoulder and saw the flashing lights getting closer. _Fuck, fuck, fuck!_ Ordinarily, she wouldn't mind getting pinched. It was just a part of life. The cops or private security or police drones would catch you stealing something or breaking into something or just loitering where a street rat shouldn't be. They would bring you in, steal your shit, scan you, confirm that you were only a  kid and then turn you over to Protective Services. After that, it was pretty easy to escape and get back to your life. Ordinarily, getting pinched was just a part of doing business but this was not an ordinary day.

    Shepard had just finished the biggest score of her life. Her omnitool now held 10,000 credits! That was more money than she had ever seen in her entire life! She had gotten so lucky. When she first spotted the guy, she thought he was just one of the usual drunks who hung out in the neighborhood and routinely passed out in the streets. It was only when she got a little closer to steal whatever was on the guy that she noticed the clean, rich-looking clothes. She had seen his type before. Rich kids from some good part of the city who came down to the dives in the shitty sections of town to party in an attempt to see the 'gritty, real life' that they stupidly thought existed in the pisshole sections of the city. Usually, they were smart enough to come in groups but this guy was either a real idiot or his friends had abandoned him. She ran a program from her omnitool over his and her eyes got wide when she saw the numbers run across her screen. Shepard let out a little laugh. 10,000 credits! What kind of idiot comes here with 10,000 credits on them?

    She couldn't believe her luck. She ran another program over his omnitool that would wipe his information and the tracking program from it and then deftly pulled it off his wrist and pocketed the device. It was then that she heard the whir of the police drone behind her. It's lights started to flash and she knew she was fucked if she didn't move fast.

    "Citizen! Stop and prepare for biometric scan. The authorities have been alerted and are on their way. Refusal to submit to biometric scan or any attempt to leave the area will result in harsh sanctions."

    Shepard stood up quickly as the drone moved closer, touched a button on her omnitool and an electric discharge flew out of it and hit the drone, temporarily immobilizing it. Shepard then took off running. She knew that she only had a few minutes headstart before the drone would recover and begin pursuit. If she got pinched now, those fuckers would take it all away from her like they always did. _Think, Shepard, think._

    There were some active apartments in the block up ahead. If she could break into one of them before the drone caught up to her, there would be a chance that the drone would simply give up the pursuit. The cops and security guards would not hesitate to break into an occupied apartment, secure in the knowledge that whoever lived in this section of town wouldn't be able to afford to hire a lawyer anyway but the drones had been programmed not to enter private spaces.

    Shepard skidded to a stop in front of the first building and entered the unlocked foyer. She then ran to the elevator, got in and punched the button for the top floor. As soon as it stopped and the door opened, Shepard ran to the first door, brought up her omni-tool and furiously started punching in numbers. The bypass program started as she impatiently hopped from one foot to the other, looking over her shoulder. Shepard saw the drone enter the hallway from the stairs just as the door in front of her opened. She quickly ducked in and shut the door behind her. She looked out the viewer window and saw the drone stop just outside the door. _Fuck, it had seen her go inside_. _The damn  things were getting faster._

    Now, it was a matter of waiting. The drone would run its algorithms and 'decide' whether to put in the call to the real police to come to this location or to return to the passed out citizen on the street. As Shepard watched the drone, she felt the cold metal against the back of her neck.

    "Just turn around nice and slow and maybe you'll get to keep your head", said a voice behind Shepard. _Female. That's a break_. _Hopefully._ Shepard raised her hands up and slowly turned around. The older woman held a very large looking pistol in her hand and a menacing scowl on her face.

    "What the fuck are you doing in my apartment? Who are you?"

    "Relax, Lady. I'm not here to do nothing to you. I just needed a spot to hide for a bit."

    The woman looked Shepard up and down, her eyes suspicious. She nodded her head towards the door.

    "You running from someone?"

    "No. I just wanted a place to chill out for a bit. Off the streets", Shepard lied.

    "You're lying. I can tell that you're lying", the woman gestered with the gun for Shepard to move, "Get away from the door."

    Keeping her hands up, Shepard moved away from the door reluctantly.

    "Go stand in the door to the kitchen", the woman ordered while once again gestering with the gun. Not seeing any choice, Shepard reluctantly did as she was told. Once she had moved far enough away, the woman briefly took her eyes off her to look out the view hole.

     "Just looking for a place to 'chill out', huh? Why are the cops after you?"

    Shepard panicked. If she told this woman why the drone had followed her, this bitch would, no doubt, take every last credit of her score. And then probably let in the drone to arrest her, just for fun. She had to think up a good lie. Fast.

     "I'm a street rat. That's all the reason they need to chase us."

    "A street rat, huh?", the woman examined her for a moment longer before lowering the gun, "That mean you have no family?"

    "I got family." Shepard stood as tall as she could and tried to look tougher than she was. "I'm a 10th Street Red. Ever heard of 'em?" 

    The woman let out a snicker.

    "You're a Red? I don't think so. What are you, 12 years old?"

    "I am so a Red, Lady." Shepard moved her sleeve out of the way to show the Reds tattoo on her forearm. She wasn't a full-fledged Red yet because she was still too young and only Enforcers could be full-fledged Reds but this woman didn't need to know that. She was also only 10 years old but she didn't need to know that either. Shepard decided to go on the offensive. "That's why you want to let me go. Living in this neighborhood, you don't want to piss off the Reds."

    "I'm not keeping you. As a matter of fact, why don't I just open this  door right now to let you out?" 

    "No!" Shepard yelled, panicking again. "I get pinched because of you and my family will be paying you a little visit for sure."

    "If you 'get pinched', it won't be because of me but because of whatever stupid thing you did that brought a robocop to my door. What do you think is going to happen when the real cops show up? If I don't open the door,  they'll just open it anyway."

    "They might not come. They don't like coming to this neighborhood anyways."

    "So, what am I supposed to do with you if they do come?"

    "Does your fire chute work?"

    "I wouldn't know. There's never been a fire and I've never had to try to escape the police by trying to use it."

    Shepard ran to the door again and looked out to find the drone just hovering there, motionless. She looked towards the back of the small apartment, back towards the fire chute. It was her only chance. Usually when the drones decided to not pursue something, they left pretty quick.

    "Look Lady, I got some credits. You let me use your chute and I'll give you 100 credits!"

    "And where would you get 100 credits?"

    "I found em." A true statement even if she left out the part about her pilfering them from a rich passed-out guy's omni. "But that's all I got. They're yours if you let me go."

    "I have the gun. What's to stop me from just taking those credits and everything else you have, including that omni-tool and then turning you over to the police anyway?"

    "You'll have to shoot me. And then the police will be here for real. That and my gang will find you and kill you for it."

    "The Reds again. Right." The woman smiled. "I don't want your money. I'm actually here to help you and kids like you."

    "Shit. Don't tell me you're one of those! I'm not going to a home!"

    "I am a social worker but I'm not going to send you to a home. I promise. But if I let you go, you have to make me a promise. You'll come back here later so I can help you."

    "I don't need no help! I'm taking care of myself just fine!"

    At that the drone rang the bell to the apartment. A robotic voice spoke.

    "Citizen, this is the New York City Municipal Police Department. You are hereby ordered to open the door or face charges of impeding the investigation of a crime. You have 30 seconds to respond."

    There was still time. If Shepard went down the chute right now, she might still escape before the real police responded. Assuming the chute was working and she didn't end up either trapped in there or a splat in the basement. With these old, run-down buildings, it was a fifty-fifty proposition at best.

    "Please, Lady. I can't get pinched right now. The Reds will hurt me!"

    "Then promise me you'll come back."

    "I promise!"

    The woman lead Shepard to the chute, opened the door and helped her hop into it.

    "I hope for your sake this thing is working. Good luck, kid."

    The woman closed the door and hit the button. Shepard felt the suction as her body started to accelerate. She closed her eyes as she went faster and faster. She wasn't stopping. This was it. Fucking thing wasn't working right and now she'd be dead. That had to be ten floors by now. It was then that Shepard felt the air blowing against her from below. The force of it was so great that she was sure her clothes would be ripped right off her body and her hair ripped from her head.

    Instead, she landed on the pavement in back of the apartment building. She tried to roll but her ankle caught a little on the landing and she ended up falling hard on her side. Shit, that hurt. She fell on her left arm and it immediately started screaming at her. She couldn't worry about that now. She got to her feet and started running away from the sounds of the police sirens.

 

 

 

    About twenty minutes later, Shepard was walking through one of the abandoned sewers of the city. Despite the fact that it was no longer used as it was intended, putrid water still ran down the center of the underground tunnel. The smell and the filth helped to keep the homeless adults, junkies and other street rats out of it. The rats helped with that as well. After she went another 500 feet, her way lit only by her omni-tool, Shepard turned the corner and found her hooked stick right where she left it. She picked up the stick and her left arm started screaming at her again. It was going to be a bitch to try to get that hatch open today with only one good arm. She couldn't remember if she had any medi-gel left in her 'apartment' but she would use it for sure if there was.

    Another 500 feet down the dark tunnel, she came to a spot where the path widened slightly. She shined her light on the ceiling above and located the hole there. It didn't look like the wooden cover over the hole had been disturbed. She leaned the stick against the curved wall of the tunnel and continued on another few hundred feet until she found her wooden box. Just picking the box up made her arm throb again.

    She brought the box back and lined it up under the hole. She then picked up her stick again and used it to push the wooden cover up and over. Now came the hard part. She would have to use both arms because the stick was too heavy to maneuver with only one. She tried to use the hook at the end of the stick to grab the robe attached to the wooden cover. She missed on her first attempt as the stick came crashing down and splashed into the water.

    "Fuck!"

    Shepard picked the handle out of the reeking water. She had no choice but to try again. She didn't dare go back to the Reds' apartment building with that many credits on her. Stim would find it on her omni for sure and take all of it. Her arm hurt so badly every time she raised the stick above her head. After a few minutes, she was finally able to hook the rope and she slowly and carefully pulled on it until the rope fell out of the hole. Climbing the rope up was going to bring more pain.

    When she finally pulled herself into the small room, she was breathing heavy and had to rest a minute before she got up again. She looked around the small cinderblock room and didn't see anything out of place. The room had obviously been a control room for the sewer system at one time but luckily for her, no one knew about it now. A sliver of sunlight filtered in from the hole in its low ceiling. Shepard took off her filthy shoes, stood on her make-shift bed and slid the cover off the opening as far as it would go, letting in more light.

    She then went to one of the metal boxes that she had piled against the wall and opened it. She took out the almost empty tube of medi-gel that she had stashed there and slathered it over her left arm and shoulder. She flopped down on the bed and waited for the pain to ease a bit before she sat up and took out the new omni-tool that she had stolen from the dumb guy in the street.

    It looked brand new and it looked like a much newer model than the one on her wrist. She would love to be able to use it but there was no way she could wear this and go back to the Reds. One of the Enforcers would take it from her. She got up and moved some of the metal boxes out of the way until a small hole was revealed in one of the cinderblocks. She stuck her hand in the opening and after rooting around for a bit, pulled out another omni-tool. She put it on her other wrist and typed some codes into it until it became active.

    _How much do I keep back_?, Shepard wondered. As a Producer for the Reds, it was her job to find, steal or beg at least 200 credits every day, which she then had to give to Stim and the other Enforcers. So long as she did her job, the Enforcers left her alone and gave her a place to live, food to eat and protection from the other gangs and from the adults and the police in the neighborhood. If she didn't do her job...well, she didn't know what would happen but the other kids whispered about it and it wasn't good. Producers who didn't produce were known to just disappear and never be seen again.

    She decided on 500 credits. Stim would somehow be able to sense that she had a good day and would expect extra. The other 9,500 credits she transferred to the other omni-tool. She looked at her total there. 14,746 credits! Another...5000 credits? No, a little more than that and she would have enough to buy that code cracking program from the extranet. Then she would be rolling in credits and would never have to worry about where she was going to get her daily 200 credits again.

    It was still early in the day. She was lucky enough to find the dumb guy first thing in the morning. She hesitated for a second and then took 30 credits back out before taking the other omni-tool off again, putting it safely back in its hole along with the dumb guy's omni-tool, and piling the metal boxes back in front of the hole again. She opened one of the metal boxes and took out a protein bar. She examined it closely. Expiration date 5/31/2163. Close enough.

    She then ran to her bed and brought up her omni-tool. She got a big score today. Why shouldn't she treat herself? She purchased an hour of extranet and then went searching for a new book. The extranet was slow in her underground box but it still worked. It wasn't as good as getting an actual paperback book from a store but it would still be fun. She finally settled on 'Heroes of the Traverse', a cheap novel about a spaceship captain who saves colonist from the evil turians and batarians in the Attican Traverse. She could afford to take the rest of the day off.      

     

   

   

 


End file.
